Street preacher to be prosecuted for comparing the lives of Jesus and Mohammed

Street evangelist, Mike Overd, a client of the Christian Legal Centre, is being prosecuted for an alleged religious aggravation public order offence.

The charges follow a complaint to police in Taunton, that Mike made a comparison between the perfect life of Jesus and the life of Mohammed.

Police have informed the former Paratrooper that the Crown Prosecution Service wishes to bring three charges against him under Section 5 of the Public Order Act.

A Taunton police Sergeant recently gave an interview to BBC television and a newspaper locally, urging residents to film the evangelist’s preaching as it was alleged that Mike's preaching was 'causing offence.'

The officer has also asked local traders to film Mike if they believed Mike was preaching 'offensively'.

Mike insists that when he made a comparison between the perfect life of Jesus and the life led by Mohammed, he did not speak in a hateful way.

“It was a simple comparison and it was factual. Mohammed did marry a nine-year-old girl. I have no hatred of Muslims in me at all and only preach the truth of the gospel. Recently a Muslim man came to my defence when I was preaching and a local shopkeeper started to shout at me. The Muslim gentleman didn’t take offence because he said he knew I was simply preaching what I believed and agreed there was no hatred in me. I’ve got this incident on video and I also have video evidence of the incidents which have led to this forthcoming prosecution.”

Mike has been told his case will come to court before the end of this year.

He is being represented by Christian Legal Centre lawyer, Michael Phillips.